Château de Madrid

The construction of the château was ordered by Francis I of France in 1528, who had been captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and held for some months in Madrid.

Both buildings were constructed on the edge of a forest near a large city, and both were made up of a long central corps de logis with loggias on two storeys and a cubical pavilion at each end.

Almost all of the exterior walls were covered in majolica and high relief; as a result it was also nicknamed the "Château de Faïence", the latter word describing earthenware decorated with colorful opaque glazes.

Its architecture bore clear influences from both Renaissance Italy, in that its building plan resembled the letter H and that its exterior was richly ornamented, and France, because of the towers on each corner of both pavilions and its internal layout, based on the Châteaux of Chenonceau and Chambord.

[1] During the Regency of Louis XV of France, Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, (the daughter of the Regent) lived at the castle.